Can opener



April 8 1924. 1,489,615

v. A. STEINER CAN OPENER Filed Jan. 12. 1922 V0050)" A, Ste/Jae? Patented 'A' r. 8,1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

vrc'ron A. srnmnn, or Bmnenronr, commcrxcu'r, ASSIGNOR 'ro enoss Arm srnmnn, or Bnmonronr, connncncu'r, a ooraminnnsnrr cons srme or CABLW. enoss AND vrc'ron A. s'mmna.

can 02mm.

Application filed January 12, 1922. Serial 80'. 528,676.

To all whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that VIQTOB A. STEINER, a citizen of the United .States, and resident of Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, has invented certain new and useful- Im rovements in ,Can Openers, of which the ollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved can opener of the type adapted to remove an'end from the body-portion of acafi by cutting through the wall of the can adjacent to the end to be removed. I,

The invention has for its. principal ob-j ject to provide a novel'device of the present character, of simple construction and consisting of few parts, which can be fastened upon a support to be quickly and 'easily manipulable by use of one hand, the op erators other hand being free to grasp the can when the novel device shall have performed its work. i i

A further important object is to provide a can opener equipped with a feeding roller adapted to engage a side of the flange of a can, with a rotatable gripping roller adapted to be clamped against the side of the flange in opposed relation to the feeding roller, with a circular, preferably square faced, cutter adapted to pierce the/wall of the can adjacent the flange when the feeding and gripping rollers are clam ed against the flange, and with mechanism whereby the rollers may be so clamped and one of the rollers may be rotated to advance the can against the cutting edge of the' cireular cutter in order that said cutting edge may continuously cut throfugh the can 'wall for its full circumference.

A still further important obj ectiisito pro vide in the device a rotatable gripping roll er. that will .be normally. free to move from and toward the feeding roller, and to so construct and arrange the rotatable gripping roller and the mechanism for rotating the feeding roller that said mechanism can be readily manipulated to' remove the rotatable gripping rgller from the flange of the fan when this isdesirable,,as'well as to clamp the gripping roller against said flange.

Still further important objects are to provide .in the device a circular cutter having a square faced cutting edge adapted to evenly break the metal of a can and to prevent the formation of splinters or chips on the can, this occurring frequently when a beveled edge cutter 'is employed to remove the ends of cans and the splinters or chip'sbeing liable to cause injuries to the hands of operators; to so construct the uare faced cutter that it will act vas a trave er to assist in feeding the can forwardly; and to so construct the device that the tension between the cutter and roller opposed thereto canmbe relieved, whereby an easier and more positive .operation of the can opener is eifected.

With the above objects in view as well. as

others which'will appear as the specification proceeds the invention comprises the .con-

struction, arrangement and combination of parts as now'to be fully described and as hereinafter 'to be specifically claimed, it being understood that the disclosure herein is merely lllustrative and meant to in no way limitthe spirit of invention, rchanges in details .of construction and arrangement of parts being permissible so long as within the scope of the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification,

Fig. 1 is atop plan view offlthe can opener as in 'use,,showing the rotatable gripping roller spacedfrom the feeding roller to al- .low insertion of a can;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view corresponding with the showingof Fig. '1, butdisclosing the-rotatable gri ping roller located closely adjacent the e ingroller to grip a can; Fig. 3 is an elevational-view of the device and its support, partially in section; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail elevational view of the feeding roller, the gripping roller, the circular, square faced cutter,'and

the squared shaft' supporting the feeding roller and gutter.

' Referring to drawing, 10 denotes the body of a plate'adapted to be fastened upon a support A in some suitable manner, as by means of an ordinary clam B, 11 denotes a neck upon said'body whic is offset at its outer end as at 12, and 13 denotes a head "carried by said neck and desirably parallel with said body.

Numeral'l l denotes a linkpivoted upon.

the head 13 as at 15 and in aligmnent with the body 10 of the plate. .The edge 16 of the link 14, spaced from the pivot 15, is of closelyadjacent to or contiguous with the upper face of the bodv and the washer 20 being arranged preferably closely adjaoent to or contiguous with the bottom face thereof to constitute the rotatable gripping roller of the can opener, in such manner that said washers can rotate with or on conti uous wit the pin 18. As will be noted, the pivot for these washers'is arranged at a distance from the edge 16 which is less than one-half the di ameter of each washer with the result that portions of said washers overlap the edge 17 of the body 10, whereby the aligning position of the link with the body of the plate is assured. The head 13 of the plate is extended, as at 21, for a slight distance in the direction of the body 10 to limit the movement of the link 14 when swung on its pivot away from the neck 11, the extension 21, obviously, serving as a stop for the washer Numeral 22 denotes an opening'in the body 10 of the plate adjacent the-edge 17 thereof, 23 a round washer desirably of the thickness of said body and arranged to ntate in the opening, 24 a squared shaft in a similarly shaped hole in 'the washer 23 and extending to the opposite sides thereof,

25 a larger washer u on the upper end of the squared shaft an preferably arranged contiguous with the washer 23, and the up-- per face of the body 10, 26 a lever u'pon sa1d shaft and above the washer 25, 27 a manipu latin'g handle upon the lever, 28 a lug struck downwardly from the lever for a purpose to be explained '29, a acing washer upon the lower extension "of izlie shaft 24 and preferably contiguous wi h the'bottom face of the plate 10, 30 the ceding roller of; the can opener on the squared shaft beneath the spacing washer '29 and contiguous therewith, 31 a second s acing washer beneath and the feeding roller, 32 a siren ar, square faced cutter contiguous with t e washer 31, and 33 represents a supporting washer for the circularcutter, Evidently, when the manipulating handle 27 is moved to turn the lever 26, the several washers, the feeding roller and the circular cutter will turn as a unit with the washer 23 in the body 10. i I

The arrangement as described makes provisions whereby the feeding roller and gripping roller can lie in the same horizontal plane to grip opposite sides of the flange ofa can, denoted C, and the circular cutter can be situated to engage the wall of the can below and closely adjacent to its flange. The feeding roller has a preferably serrated edge and the cutting edge of the circular cutter can be of any suitable conformation, although it is desirably of some width to break the tin of the can and is provided with atoothed edge 34.

The device operates in the following manner. When it is desired to open a can, the rotatable gripping roller is moved away from the feeding roller to be situated as shown in Fig. 1, and an end of the can is positioned against the bottom face of the body 10 of the plate so that the flangeof the can is between and adjacent to the feeding and gripping rollers. The operating lever is rotated, in the direction of the arrows Figs 1 and 2, until-the end of the can is removed. Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that upon the initial rotation of the operating lever, the lug 28 rides against the washer 19 and moves the link 14 into engagement with the neck 11, positioning the rotatable gripping roller 20 closely adjacent to the feeding roller 30 to cause the square faced cutting edge 34 of the circular cutter to pierce the can and the gripping roller and feeding roller to be clamped against the'sides of the against the square faced edge of the circular cutter. It will be evident that the link '14 can not at this time be swung on its pivot away from the neck 11, for the reason that the rotating force exerted against the gripping roller and the can by both the feeding roller and the circular cutter is in the direction toward said neck. When the end of the can has been removed from the body portion thereof, the flange can be released from the roller by simply reversely turning the operating lever for a short distance. The effect of the reverse turn is to cause the feeding roller, as welljas the circular cutter, to feed the flange backwardly against the gripping roller to force the link 14 to swing on its pivot away from the neck 11 and the rotatable gripping roller to move away from the feeding roller to allow a different can to 'be opened in the manner already fully set forth. It is apparent that the arrangement of the circular cutter can be reversed. That is to say, said cutter can be arranged upon the pin 18 beneath the gripping roller 20. This would reverse the arrangement of the flange between the feeding and gripping rollers. I f Attention is called to the fact that the square faced cutting edge 34 of the circular cutter has some width and breaks the tin of a can making a kerf thereabout, so that when an end of a can is cut off there can be no resulting splinter or chip, the thickness of and vmore positive operation of .the can opener,-this resilienc relieving the tension between the rotatab e ipping roller and the circular cutter tendm to bind the can.

The use of the squar shaft 24 permits. the emplo ment of a circular cutter and feeding ro ler' of diameters sufliciently small to insure that the, can opener can be operated with a minimum of effort.

It is to be: remarked that the device as hereinbefore fully described and illustrated is capable of opening cans of any cross sectional configuration.

Havin thus fully described the invention what I c aim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: i

1. In a can opener, a rotatable feeding roller, a rotatable gripping roller, a cutter, a member for rotating one ofsaid rollers, and means actuated by said member for moving the. rollers toward each other.

2. .In a can opener, a rotatable feeding roller, a rotatable gripping roller, a circular cutter, a member for rotating one of said rollers and said cutter, and means actuated by said member for moving said rollers toward each other.

3. In 'a can opener, a rotatable feeding roller, a rotatable gripping roller, a cutter mounted to turn with one of said rollers, a member for rotating one of said rollers and a said cutter, and means actuated by said membr for moving said rollers toward'each other. I

4..In a can opener, a rotatable. feeding roller, a rotatable grip ing roller, a cutter mounted to turn w' one of said rollers, means for rotating one of said rollers, and a device upon said means and actuated thereby for engaging one of saidrollers to move the same toward the other roller.

5. In a'can opener, a rotatable feeding roller, a rotatable gripping roller, a cutter, ainember for rotatin one of said rollers, and means actuated hy said member. for moving the rollers toward and from each other.

6. In a can opener, a rotatable feeding roller, a rotatable gripping roller, a circular. cutter, a member for rotating" one of said rollers and said cutter, and means actuated by said member for moving said rollers toward and from each other.

7. In a can opener,"a rotatable feeding roller, a rotatable gripping roller, a cutter mounted to turn with one of said rollers, a member for rotating one of said rollers, a

device associated with said member and adapted to engage one of said rollers to move the same toward the other of said rollers when the member is rotated to feed a can, and means whereby the rollers can be moved apart by rotation of the member in opposite direction.

8. In a can opener, a rotatable feeding roller, a rotatable gripping roller, a cutter, a member for rotatin one of said rollers, a device associated with said member and adapted to engage one of said rollerswhen' the member is rotated to feed a can, and means whereby the rollers can be moved apart by rotation of the member in opposite direction.

9. In a can opener, a feeding roller adapted to'engage one side of a flange of a can,- ,a rotatable gripping roller adapted to have movement toward and from the feedin roller and to engage the opposite side 0 said flange in opposed relation to said feeding roller, a cutter having an edge adapted to enter the wall of a can adjacent said flange when the rollers are moved into engagement with the flange, a member for rotating the feeding roller, and a device actuated by said member for engaging the gripping roller to move it against the flange, whereby when said feeding roller is rotated said can will be fed forwardly against said cutting edge.

10. In a can opener, means for, rotating a can to be cut, and a cutter having a relatively broad square face for traversing the circumference of the can to break the metal thereof, whereby slight inaccuracies can be cared for and the cutter face can return to its exact starting point at the finish of an operation of removing an end of a can.

11. In a, can opener, a plate consisting of a body, a head and a neck connecting said bod and head, a roller supported on said bo y, a roller supported from said on said body, said rollers adapted to grip the sides ofthe-flange of a' can in opposed relation to each-other, and a cutter associated with one of said rollers and adapted to pierce the wall of said can adjacent said flange, said neck constituting a resilient connection between said body and said head reli'eving tension between said cutter and can tending to bind said can.

13. A combination as recited in claim 12",

wherein the link pivotally supports a washer arranged to engage an extension on said head to limit the extent to which the link can swing on its pivot away from the neck.

14. In a can opener, a plate, a round washer mounted to rotate therein, a squared shaft in said washer and extending above and below said plate, a feeding roller. and a a-rotatable cutter on said shaft andbeneath plate, and a member fixed upon said shaft whereby the same can be rotated.

Signed at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, this 7th day of January, A. D. 1922.

VICTOR A. sTEiNER. 

